Vivitar 285HV

[Colin]

Oneof my first pictures that aren't just of the inside of my houseusingthe vivitar offcamera flash with the cactus trigger (yeah, just used one). This guy was on my kitchen counter on his back, so I helped him onto a paper plate, and made him feel like a star.





Who said you had to have a macro flash to flash macro?

[HelenOster]

Our 14-day returns policy would apply.


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<span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"]Helen <span class="goog-spellcheck-word"]Oster
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[cian3307]

Colin, I like it! What size is that bug in real life?

[Sean Setters]

He's 237 feet from antennae to the tip of his hind legs. He just got done eating part of Tokyo when that picture was taken....


Or maybe 1 1/2" - 2" I'm guessing... :-) How about it Colin?

[Chuck Lee]

Stephen,


Here's what I did..........


8 months ago I discovered www.strobist.com. Even though I had used off-camera flash 2 or 3 times with good results, this guy Dave Hobby @ strobist opened up a whole new world for me.Some of the simplest things can be so easy and inexpensive to do. I now own 4 Vivitar 285HVs from Adoroma (post real Vivitar I guess, though the box says Vivitar) I have used these with Cactus triggers and they are wonderful!! I also have tried one mounted to the camera and used it's thyristor metering. Freaking unreal how perfect and consistent the exposures were. Very powerful but slow recycling when full power. I just ordered 6V lead acid batteries that will power these puppies for an upcoming shoot. &lt; 2 sec recycle at full power. If I can get away with 1/2 power they'll do &lt; .5 sec. I'll make the battery chords myself, but they can be purchased for a rather steep price from some online dealers. I'll let you know if they melt!!


Just recently, Dave showed use some new manual flashes that just came on the market. I wish I'd known about these 6-8 months ago. http://strobist.blogspot.com/2009/03/manual-flashes-two-debuts-and-adoption.html


I'mvery happy with the Vivitar's. I also have had no problem with the Cactus triggers.Shot a wedding just recently. During formals I used a Honel 8" snoot on the 285 for hair light. The main was umbrella'ed at 1/2 power. The snooted 285 was at 1/16th. It was also 30-40 ft away and never once miss-fired. Took shots of one to fifteen people at a time and it all worked well. Near the end I had to put new batteries in the main do to the recycling times going over 4 sec. Another plus for the 285's is the battery cartridge. I just took one loaded cartridge out of the backup unit and put that in the main. Easy-Peezy/Lemon Squeezy.


Anyway, Stephen I'll let you work up the pricing but I tell ya there's no less expensive way to get amazing studio quality photos than this.


Chuck

[Chuck Lee]

P.S.


I forgot to add that I do not mount the Viv285s directly on the cactus triggers. I purchsed sync corded hot shoe brackets. The 285's get mounted to the light stands via these hot shoe brackets. I plug the sync cord into the cactus reciever then using velco strap, I lash the reciever to the flash body. All this busy wired velcro strap stuff along with the 285's massive bezel make a quite impressive looking portable light rig. I got some "very cool" (s) at my last shoot.

[Stephen Probert]

You say you have to control your flashes.

Sorry, I guess I didn't mean control...I meant trigger. It sounds like the least expensive way is Cactus triggers....I will look into them. I don't mind working in manual flash mode and I am eager to learn, I just need to figure out what gear to get.


Thanks for your dedication to the strobist topic, Sean. You are a real proponent of this skill on this forum and it is very much appreciated by those of us with little experience.

[Stephen Probert]

Thanks, Chuck. I looked into Strobist a little while ago when Sean first (I believe) posted a link in an earlier thread, and I have read a few posts there. I will look into the link for the manual flashes. Thanks.

[Sean Setters]

Thanks, Chuck. I looked into Strobist a little while ago when Sean first (I believe) posted a link in an earlier thread, and I have read a few posts there. I will look into the link for the manual flashes. Thanks.
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When I first advised Colin on getting the Cactus V4s a while ago, they had just come out and the preliminary reports were good. However, now that they've been out a while, the quality control of the V4s doesn't seem as good as I had hoped. I think Colin got a good set, though. You might be better served buying CTR-301 (or CTR-301P) triggers. There are some issues with them not allowing you to use all the battery power in your flashes (stop triggering after your flash battery power goes below 1/2 or so, I think), but they can be modified fairly easily to allow for full battery usage. See this link for modification instructions.


That's the cheap route. Buy them and start learning. Once you've got it down, then you might have to go to a slightly more reliable (with decent range) option in Cybersync triggers. They are fantastic, and not nearly as pricey as PocketWizards.

[Colin]

Head to rump, he would have fit on a dime, though I'm sure he would have liked to include the length of his feelers, at which point I'd say a nickel.


I ended up with some used Cactus V2's, because that's what I could find, and I was impatient. they seem to work fine. The only time I've seen the flash not fire was when I forgot to turn the receiver on. Sometimes I'm quite the brainiac []